Illegal drugs are widespread throughout Australian sport and are being facilitated by sports scientists, high-level coaches and sports staff, a 12-month investigation by the Australian Crime Commission has found.

Organised crime groups are also involved in the frequent practice which, in some cases, see players administered with substances not yet approved for human use.

The ACC also found evidence of "concerning" personal relationships between professional athletes and crime identities and groups that may have resulted in match fixing and the fraudulent manipulation of betting markets.


Here are the key findings of Project Aperio:

The investigation identified widespread use of prohibited substances including peptides, hormones and illicit drugs in professional sport.

It also found that this use has been facilitated by sports scientists, high-performance coaches and sports staff.

In some cases, players are being administered with substances that have not yet been approved for human use.

The ACC also identified organised crime identities and groups that are involved in the distribution of PIEDs to athletes and professional sports staff.

The ACC report notes increasing evidence of personal relationships of concern between professional athletes and organised criminal identities and groups. This may have resulted in match fixing and the fraudulent manipulation of betting markets.

The report concluded that some coaches, sports scientists and support staff of elite athletes have orchestrated and/or condoned the use of prohibited substances.

The Australian Crime Commission also found that illicit drug use by professional athletes is more prevalent than previously indicated in official sports drug testing program statistics.

The responses

The Coalition of Major Professional and Participation Sports (COMPPS) has agreed to several measures to assist the crackdown.

The Coalition represents all the major sporting organisations in Australia, including the AFL, NRL, FFA, ARU and Cricket Australia.

The individual bodies are to:

Establish integrity units to deal with doping, betting and ethical issues.

Co-operate with ASADA and law enforcement agencies in a joint investigation.

Call on their athletes to come forward and own up to wrongdoing and co-operate with investigators to possibly reduce sanctions.

Enact a multi-code policy to share information and implement doping sanctions across codes.

Have zero tolerance for any support staff involved in pedalling inappropriate substances and help ensure they are not employed in other codes.

Betting suspended on AFL opener



A number of Australian bookmakers have suspended betting on the opening match of the AFL season between Adelaide and Essendon.

The Bombers are currently under investigation by the AFL and the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Agency (ASADA) after earlier this week admitting to concerns over the use of supplements at the club.

That was followed by the release of the Australian Crime Commission report into drugs in sport in Australia on Thursday which described widespread doping and links to organised crime.

The Crows host Essendon at AAMI Stadium in Adelaide on March 22 to kick off the 2013 premiership season and on Friday morning, some online bookmakers had removed the fixture from their websites or noted betting was suspended.

Sportsbet.com.au had removed the Adelaide-Essendon game from its website while Essendon were the only club out of the 18 teams to be taken out of its futures betting markets predicting which sides will make the top four, top eight, win the minor premiership and take the wooden spoon.

Sportingbet had also stripped the Adelaide-Essendon game from its website and Tattsbet had suspended futures betting.

SBW claims controversial boxing win

Boos drowned out Sonny Bill Williams despite the code hopper technically claiming the biggest scalp in his fledgling boxing career in Brisbane on Friday night.

Former All Black Williams (6-0) somehow emerged a unanimous points winner in his WBA international heavyweight title fight with Francois Botha (48-9) despite appearing to have been trampled by the South African bruiser dubbed The White Buffalo.

Botha, 44, showed all the experience that had led him to world title fights with boxing's who's who, including the likes of Lennox Lewis, Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield.

Yet despite battering Williams throughout their 10-round bout, Botha suffered the ninth loss in his 60 pro fights - much to the disgust of the packed Brisbane Entertainment Centre crowd.

Williams, 27, was almost booed out of the ring after officials somehow awarded the fight to the Sydney Roosters NRL star 97-91, 98-94 and 97-91.

Williams had threatened to give up the sport if he was knocked out by Botha.

But it appears Williams' boxing options are limited despite somehow emerging triumphant from his "victory" over the hard-hitting Botha.

AAP

Australian sports chiefs have demanded the Australian Crime Commission (ACC) name and shame the drug users identified in Thursday's explosive report before the reputations of innocent athletes are unfairly tarnished.

Led by rugby league super coach Wayne Bennett, they argue all athletes have been unfairly smeared as drug users by a report which uncovered widespread doping in Australian sport, with sportspeople angry at being under a veil of suspicion.

"The game is not at fault here - it's the agencies who started it all yesterday and went so public," Bennett said on Friday.

Bennett was joined by senior rugby league figure Phil Gould and AFL great Paul Roos in strongly criticising the lack of detail in the ACC report - saying athletes had been tarnished with the same brush.

"I don't believe sport has ever been as clean as it is now across all our codes," Bennett said.

"Will we always get it right? No, we won't. Will we always have a rogue somewhere? Yes, we will.

"The game doesn't tolerate it and most coaches and most clubs don't either.

"The tragedy of (Thursday) is, all of a sudden, we looked like we're all on drugs and we're all using illicit substances and it's being encouraged by everybody.

"The allegations didn't come as a shock. What came as a shock was the way we handled it.

"I just think we handled it very very badly."

The ACC on Thursday said it had uncovered links between organised crime and performance-enhancing drugs being used by elite athletes, but cited legal reasons in refusing to name sporting codes, clubs or individuals involved.

This also didn't sit comfortably with Bennett, who took aim at anti-doping agencies for their failure to detect any problems earlier.

"Part of my beef with this is that if we've got the drug problem we have, what's the drug agency been doing?" he asked.

"We pay them a lot of money to come into our sport and we've made a lot of compromises for them to come into our sport.

"Now they're telling us we've got a problem. I can't detect - I've got no means to do that. We employ them to do that."

The ACC provided specifics to the relevant sports and police, but some sports officials said all athletes have had their integrity unfairly questioned.

Gould, the general manager of NRL club Penrith, said "at the moment, everyone is guilty".

Roos, a retired AFL premiership coach, said the ACC could have provided greater detail without hindering future investigations, while former prime minister Kevin Rudd said all sportspeople were "walking around with a total cloud over their head".

Veteran Brisbane NRL administrator Andrew Gee said he was upset at seeing innocent athletes walking around with their heads bowed.

"It's disgraceful for someone to just come out like that and tar everyone the same," Gee said.

"... What I see are elite athletes who train and push their bodies to the limit, who are reluctant to walk down the main street because they're under this veil of suspicion.

"I can tell you they are very embarrassed and angry about it.

"They (the ACC) should have continued their investigation under the radar and not released any details until they were ready to blow the lid on all the cheats."

The ACC refused interview requests on Friday.

In other developments, AFL club Fremantle said it was convinced none of its players was given banned drugs from a club sponsor which imported unregistered substances.

Fremantle was sponsored in 2008 by Nutrition Systems, whose parent company Export Corporation (Australia) Pty Ltd was last year found guilty of importing unregistered substances and fined $3.1 million in the Federal Court.

Fremantle ended its sponsorship with Nutrition Systems in 2009 "purely on commercial terms", the club's chief executive Steve Rosich said on Friday.

In NRL circles, Gold Coast said a jam jar of liquid, possibly urine, found hidden in plumbing at their home ground wasn't being investigated by police.

© 2013 AAP
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Known about this for years not sure why everyone's so surprised.

Veteran NRL coach Wayne Bennett questions ASADA's effectiveness in fight against drugs in sport


Fuming .... Knights coach Wayne Bennett points the finger of blame to ASADA. Source: Robert Mckell / News Limited

Wayne Bennett has turned the finger of blame directly back on doping authorities in the wake of yesterday's disturbing drug allegations, asking: "If we've got the drug problems we've had, what's the drug agency been doing?"

Speaking before the NRL All Stars' final training run, Bennett questioned why the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority was not being scrutinised following the Australian Crime Commission's report that claimed "widespread'' use of illegal substances.
"That's my beef with this - if we've got the drug problems we've had, well, what's the drug agency been doing?'' an angry Bennett said of ASADA.
"We pay them a lot of money to come into our sport. We made a lot of compromises for them to come into our sport. And now they're telling us we've got a problem."

"I can't detect it, I've got no means to do that. We employ them to do that.''
As announced at Parliament House on Thursday, Sports Minister Kate Lundy has given ASADA increased investigative powers that extends beyond testing.
The NRL pays the anti-doping agency about $500,000 a year to conduct more than 800 urine and blood tests. That does not include the thousands of dollars clubs individually spend on in-house testing.

Bennett was bemused at the code being broadly smeared from the release of the ACC report.
"That's the tragedy of yesterday (Thursday),'' Bennett said. "We all look like we're on drugs and we're all using illicit substances.
"The shock for me was the way they handled it. They handled it very badly yesterday. There was an opportunity to get some real evidence. To bring the CEOs and get their co-operation.
The Darkest Day


"There were a lot of accusation, a lot of mud being thrown, obviously they hope some of it will stick.''
Meanwhile, ASADA is expected to increase blood testing of NRL players in 2013 as they look to construct biological passports of suspected drug cheats.
The federal government announced plans to use the athlete biological passport program midway through last year and Rugby League Players Association chief executive David Garnsey confirmed an agreement had been reached with NRL players to conduct an undetermined number of tests this season on an "as needed" basis.
That news was overshadowed by the continuing fallout from the Australian Crime Commission's report into organised crime and drugs in sport. The biological passport program shapes as one of the most significant weapons in the war against drugs. The program uses the latest technology to produce an electronic record of athletes' biological attributes from blood samples taken over an extended period of time.
Blood testing of rugby league players has become more prominent in recent years and will only become more prevalent in the wake of revelations this week.



Read more: http://www.foxsports.com.au/league/nrl-premiership/australian-sports-anti-doping-authority-to-increase-blood-tests-on-nrl-players-for-2013/story-fn2mcuj6-1226574399594#ixzz2KOAFavGf

AFL Shame

You're not just a dickhead with a call like that, you're also sadly deluded if you think this is confined to AFL.

ACC names six clubs in explosive report

Reports have emerged that six clubs in the NRL have been named in the Australian Crime Commission's report into drugs and crime in sport.

At this stage, the ACC haven't revealed the identity of the clubs, but chief executive John Lawler said he was working on a plan to be able to provide full disclosure.

News Limited reports, though, that there are strict legalities involved in naming the clubs, as any information divulged would not be allowed to adversely impact on a club or individual.

Although they have been informed of the clubs and individuals involved, all sporting codes have been required to keep the information confidential under strict legal guidelines.

"I will work with the clubs over the weekend and next week to look if there is a way for those clubs to work around those legal constraints," Lawler said.

"There is a long way for this to play out yet.

"I am very confident in the report's findings. This is no beat-up. We have sworn testimonies. We have corroborated evidence.

"We have quite a significant amount of intelligence. We are very confident in the findings."

However, Lawler said the intention of the report had been lost in the race to find out names of individuals and clubs.

"This is about making sure that they are alert to the risks and vulnerabilities, and that they are actively doing something about it," he said.

"What's happened has happened. That needs to be investigated. But, more importantly, we should be trying to prevent this occurring."

"There may be players using substances or contemplating using substances that our alert will hopefully prevent. We also have criminals out there, that we know are doing this.

"We are not going to declare who they are but this is a way of putting the frighteners into them, so they are aware authorities are aware of them." Justice Minister Jason Clare said the commission had also given the names of individuals to NSW and Victorian police.

"I understand that people want the Australian Crime Commission to name names. And they have - they have given names to the police and the anti-doping authority," he said.

Its nice to see that Football journalists don't use their column space to put the boot into AFL and NRL. Better to let them deal with their own issues. Its a shame that that their journalists don't show the same class.

+1

+1

It comes from an inferiority complex. Small pond.

+1

The timing of this release on Wed/Thurs was odd, especially with Gillard out of the country. The cynic in me says it was released to hide how bad Gillard's Government really is.

But which one has the inferiority complex?